Autumn Sown Carrots

[Demeter]

A bin is a thing you put rubbish in.
Or recycle into a carrot-growing device
Long Cultivars of Carrots by Medwyn Williams MBE FNVS, Chairman of The National Vegetable Society

One of the other plotholders at my allotment site has 2 or 3 bins of carrots.

[Jameslovell]

I feel really stupid now.
Thought it was a name for something built by the wise rather than literally a bin. Tut, what am I like?

[Demeter]

LOL
Well it's nice to have a giggle at someone else's expense for a change
We all get the wrong end of the stick now and then...

[Jameslovell]

I seem to get it more often than not.
Oh well, I'll learn one day...

[Two_Sheds]

Glad you saw the funny side too, James, and didn't go off in a strop !
There're some right clangers on here sometimes, but usually people are too polite to laugh

[HayleyB]

I'm growing mine in a big yellow bucket - and for James that's a er no better not go there

[Two_Sheds]

I'm growing mine in a big yellow bucket - and for James that's a... er no, better not go there

... it's a bunch of flowers innit?

[HayleyB]

Ummmmmm

[maytreefrannie]

What is a bin? I heard about a fine mesh fence around them for the same purpose. Or are they the same thing?

I just used an old dustbin that already had holes in the bottom. We've had buckets of rain this summer and a lot of things have been almost washed out - however, the carrots in the dustbin have done very well. I mixed some sand with the compost and I guess that helped drainage. Anyway, they did well, they taste great, so I'm happy.

[squashysu]

i have sown some in pots as well (like large planters), i am gonna move them in the greenhouse as soon as the weather gets bad, its worth a try james.

[Jameslovell]

I am going to conduct an experiment. I will plant some three sets of carrots.
The first lot of carrots out in open ground.
The second in the ground covered with cloches.
And the last set will be in a few buckets so I can move them inside when the weather gets too bad.

Will probabaly sow them all in few weeks after my holiday. That way I can keep an eye on them as they germinate.

[di]

I feel really stupid now.
Thought it was a name for something built by the wise rather than literally a bin. Tut, what am I like?

James just found this & remembered your wonderful knowledge on trackbacks & tags(even if you didn't explain pingbacks!!)~guess we all have pearls of wisdom in our own thing!

[Cutecumber]

I have tried late sown carrots in containers in the greenhouse several times. By late I mean August. July is usually the last advisable time to sow.

In my experience, they will start off ok, but as the day length shortens - which remember is already happening - they slow down and fail to thrive.

I have used several "quick maturing" varieties and none have been successful - they grow in September, slow in October and by December the carrots were minute and woody. The space would have been better used for a winter lettuce or salad leaves.

I would be very surprised, unless we have an exceptionally warm autumn, that carrots like Autumn King which are sown now, especially outside, will bulk up.

There is a reason why seed packets show a sowing date range and unless you are in a different climatic zone from that to which it refers, their advice usually turns out to be true. It's important to push the boundaries and experiment, yes, but I have found that some veg are very stubborn!

So, I would give it a go, but don't bother with too many. You may be lucky, you may not.

In the interests of experimentation *cackles wildly* I have the newly issued Nantes Frubund which will allegedly tolerate being autumn sown... so we'll see how it fares. I'll sow some Amsterdam Forcing too as a comparison - these are my quickest growing carrot.

Good luck everyone! May you have carrots for Christmas

[Snadger]

I have tried late sown carrots in containers in the greenhouse several times. By late I mean August. July is usually the last advisable time to sow.

In my experience, they will start off ok, but as the day length shortens - which remember is already happening - they slow down and fail to thrive.

I have used several "quick maturing" varieties and none have been successful - they grow in September, slow in October and by December the carrots were minute and woody. The space would have been better used for a winter lettuce or salad leaves.

I would be very surprised, unless we have an exceptionally warm autumn, that carrots like Autumn King which are sown now, especially outside, will bulk up.

There is a reason why seed packets show a sowing date range and unless you are in a different climatic zone from that to which it refers, their advice usually turns out to be true. It's important to push the boundaries and experiment, yes, but I have found that some veg are very stubborn!

So, I would give it a go, but don't bother with too many. You may be lucky, you may not.

In the interests of experimentation *cackles wildly* I have the newly issued Nantes Frubund which will allegedly tolerate being autumn sown... so we'll see how it fares. I'll sow some Amsterdam Forcing too as a comparison - these are my quickest growing carrot.

Good luck everyone! May you have carrots for Christmas

I agree wholeheartedly with your analysis Cutecumber. Experimentation is the name of the game though, so I hope I'm proved wrong by some of the grape experimenters!

[Cutecumber]

Oh steady on! Don't agree with me... that approach is bound to bite you in the posterior later!!